A KC-46A Pegasus tanker from McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, has suffered a mishap during a refueling mission on August 21, 2024, prompting the crew to conduct an emergency landing at Travis Air Force Base, California.
In an emailed statement to AeroTime, the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB confirmed that the KC-46A Pegasus, assigned to the 22nd Aerial Refueling Wing from McConnell Air Force Base, was on a routine aerial refueling mission with an F-15 Eagle fighter jet when an unspecified incident happened.
The crew declared an in-flight emergency related to the boom equipment. The aircraft landed safely at Travis AFB, though the runway had to be temporarily closed to accommodate the response by emergency support personnel. Operations at the base have since returned to normal.
The 931st Air Refueling Wing, which is the associate unit with the 22d Air Refueling Wing to which the tanker belonged, stated in a release quoted by Air & Space Forces Magazine that the aircraft dropped a ‘portion’ of the boom near the base.
Unconfirmed images that surfaced on social media reportedly show the aftermath of the incident.
The photos show the boom broken in half, with the end shaved off, suggesting that the tanker landed with the boom still extended. The tanker’s APU exhaust cone has wrinkling damage, suggesting a potential collision with the receiving aircraft.
This incident is not the first time a KC-46A has encountered issues with its boom. On August 23, 2022, while on an exhibition flight for members of New Hampshire’s state representatives, a KC-46A known as ‘Spirit of Portsmouth’ also experienced a malfunction with its boom during a mid-air refueling demonstration.
In that case, the tanker’s boom failed to retract due to a malfunction in its hoist cable, forcing the aircraft to land with the boom extended at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. The boom then scraped the runway during landing.
The Pegasus is a critical asset for the US Air Force, designed to perform aerial refueling, cargo transport, and medical evacuation missions. However, the aircraft has faced several technical challenges since its introduction, raising concerns about its reliability during operational missions.